The Art of Silent Response

Smile and Silence are two powerful tools to live a joyful life. Smiling can help us solve many problems, and silence can help us avoid many problems.

A genuine smile represents a state of inner peace and positivity that helps us respond to even difficult situations in life with progressive alternatives to create stepping stones to a joyful life.   

It is not necessary to react to every situation in life, silence can be a good alternative. And there are circumstances in life when silence is not only a good alternative for a joyful life but a necessary, most effective, and potent response. Since many of us do not know the art of not responding and staying silent, let us reflect on situations when silence can be a wiser option. 

First, in a mental state when your power of thinking is clouded by anger, exhaustion, biasing, or any other reason, anything you say can add to the bitterness in life. In such a situation silence may be a better option to live a joyful life. 

Second, when your views are not relevant, persuasive, or impactful because you are not an expert or you are not well prepared; in such cases before speaking you have to think if your input will be valuable or not. You may find that silence is the best option. 

Third, when you are unsure what you want to say is true and you have no evidence to prove it, you may be challenged and that may stress you out. In such situations, staying silent may be a good option. 

Fourth, is what you want to say pleasant and helpful that will create value for someone? If not, you will only feed negativity. In such situations, silence may be a better option. 

Finally, when someone is requesting you to remain silent but your ego is coercing you to say something, in such situations for your inner peace and joyful life - silence may be a better option. 

Let us reflect on these five ideas and utilize our power of speech only when we can inspire creativity, value creation, and joy in the world. Otherwise, we should learn to make silence our happiness shield to preserve inner peace and bliss to live a joyful life.